Building Your Career in Academia John Holcomb Cleveland State University MATHFEST 2010.
Academia (University)
Transcript of Academia (University)
Profile
I am a 23 year old architecture and urban
planning graduate who recently completed
five years of studies at the University of
Dundee, Scotland achieving a Masters
Degree in Architecture with Urban Planning
(with distinction). I have previously worked
in New York City at Space 4 Architecture
and DGJ Architektur in Frankfurt. I am now
looking for a graduate architecture and/or
urban planning position in practice. I am a
strong driven individual who can work well
both on my own and as part of a team,
being involved in all aspects of the design
process. My passion resides in the design
of innovative buildings and processes that
contribute to the built environment and
wider society. I put emphasis on the user
experience and the flexibility of space
with a focus on adaptability across scales.
In line with good practice and my own
personal interest I am always searching
for solutions when tackling sustainability. I
enjoy working alongside clients and other
professionals, bringing my enthusiasm
to every project while remaining fully
engaged throughout.
Document
This document consists of 15 projects/
collections of my work from primarily
the last six years (five years of study and
one year in practice). It is divided into
university based projects (Academia),
year out experience (Professional) and self
developed projects (Personal).
Many of the projects can be explored in
more detail at caoc.uk Thank you for
your time and consideration.
Contents
Academia (University)
03 Perth Creative Commons
05 Vicenza Art School
07 Leith Dance Studio
09 Vertical Projects
11 Student Residence
13 Primary School
15 Terrace House
17 First Year Architecture
19 Academic Documents
Professional (Year Out)
21 Venice Biennale
23 Losbates School
25 Chengdu
27 Barilla
Personal
29 Photography Posters
31 Armour
Callum A O’ConnorPDF Portfolio
03 04
Perth Creative Commons | Year 5
Perth Creative Commons aims to
redevelop Perth’s rail line into a new
urban corridor and develop several sites
along this route, establishing a diverse and
creative community. It is achieved through
a vision driven strategy that enables
‘collaborators’ to contribute through a self-
build framework. The project aims to attract
young professionals and entrepreneurs
from across multiple disciplines, from
traditional arts to tech and engineering. The
proposals success relies on establishing a
condition which enables and incentivises
creatives to contribute to the community
and fully realise their aspirations without
hindrance.
05 06
Vicenza Art School | Year 4
The Vicenza Arts and Craft School was
designed to generate 4200 sq metres
of multi-purpose space and offer a path
to education in traditional Vicenzan
techniques of jewellery design and
production as well as contemporary
courses in graphic and technology based
design. The complex was also designed to
accommodate a portion of the Vicenzaoro
Expo during out of term times, as well as
other major events and gatherings. The site
is situated within a five minute walk of the
city centre.
07 08
Leith Dance Studio | Year 3
The brief was to design a facility for the
charity WASPS which offers space to
artists, in this particular scenario dancers.
However, the brief expanded into several
different arts as the area called for a multi
functional design. The existing site houses an
abandoned movie theatre and dilapidated
community centre. It was decided early in
the project that the existing derelict building
was to be demolished.
09 10
Vertical Project | Year 3
The assignment was completed in the space
of a week between projects as a group of
four. The aim was to propose a design for
the church steeple as the initial plan was
incomplete due to loss of funding during
construction. The proposed design drew
heavily on Scandinavian architecture and
the idea of a light insert reducing impact
on the existing structure.
11 12
Student Residence | Year 3
The student accommodation project filled a
gap right at the heart of Cambridge at one
of its most prestigious Colleges, Christ’s
College. The brief included 12 residences,
two flats, lobby, offices, reflective space,
library and several other amenities. The
final design consisted of two main blocks
pushed to the periphery preserving the
courtyard typology.
13 14
Primary School | Year 2
The proposed school sits on the banks of
the river Alyth, a small town in Scotland.
It would accommodate children from
primary 1-7 plus a nursery. It was important
to divide the play ground into two halves,
younger and older children (1-4/5-7). This
led to a form with a central divide holding
the fixed classroom space and against the
northern boundary the flexible program
and gymnasium.
15 16
Terraced House | Year 2
The terraced house project came about as
a result of a significant redevelopment of
the Dundee Waterfront. This was also in
conjunction with a trip through Holland,
Belgium and France in which we focused
on European terraced house design and
studied several precedents. Each lot came
together in a master scheme following
universal rules such as height restrictions.
17 18
First Year Architecture | Year 1
The following is a collection of work from
my first year of architecture studies. The
first project featured is a culinary school
designed for a walled garden site in Fife. The
second is a library project in Queensferry,
situated underneath the Forth Road Bridge.
This is then followed by several sketches as
part of an urban analysis assignment.
19 20
Academic Documents | Year 3-5
These nine documents showcase my ability
to develop and deliver a written document
to a high standard, in both the content and
structure as well the graphical design and
representation of ideas.
21 22
Venice Biennale (S4A) | Year Out
I worked on much of the design work,
model making and Photoshop for the
Biennale project over the course of the first
5-6 weeks of my internship.
“We were immediately drawn to room 215,
a space that could easily be described
as a corridor with no destination. We
started our journey by focusing on the
individual and on how to guide the visitor’s
experience within the narrow space. Our
desire was to create a moment of intimacy
within the room, away from the collective
context of Palazzo Mora and the city of
Venice.” - S4A
23 24
Losbates School (S4A) | Year Out
My time was spent on producing drawings
and renders and helping with the layout of
the final submission.
“The new Losbates school is an opportunity
to give the community of Louňovice, Štíhlice,
Babice, Thovec and Svojetice a new
magnet centre for social interaction, where
learning, arts and sports share common
grounds in a dynamic and interactive way.
The organic shapes of both the individual
function volumes as well as the central
ring connecting them, allows for flawless
circulation, guaranteeing inclusiveness of
all parts into a single, new cultural hub.”
- S4A
25 26
Chengdu (S4A) | Year Out
I worked on producing the drawings for
the competition and helping out with the
renders and layout.
“S4A was inspired by the context of the
site. The circular forms of the design create
a continuous relationship between land
and water, allowing the visitor to engage
and fully experience its position in the
middle of the lake. These interconnected
circles have reflected roofs, which act to
eliminate boundaries between water, sky,
and land, strengthening the connection
with the surroundings.” - Arch Daily
27 28
Barrilla (S4A) | Year Out
I worked on producing drawings and
renders and helping with the layout of the
final submission.
“Our concept is inspired by both nature
and the industrial process of the Barilla
production. By elevating the surrounding
fields into different stacked planes we
created a vertical pathway of vast open-air
cultivated fields, sporadically interrupted
by greenhouses allowing for sensitive
cultivation, as well as by the assembly,
exhibition and training areas.” - S4A
29 30
Photography Posters | Personal Project
Photography is a skill I have developed
over time through architecture and has
developed into a personal interest. I am
lucky enough to call travel a hobby and
I enjoy documenting those experiences
in creative ways. Instead of collecting
souvenirs to mark my travels around the US
I produced several tailored posters.
31 32
Armour | High School
This is the earliest project documented on
the site and consists of two iterations. (Year
5 Higher Art & Design - Year 6 Advanced
Higher Art & Design) The second iteration
won the rotary club youth award for Art
and Design in Scotland. The project is a
good example of my early design and
technical skills outside of architecture and
a whimsical addition to my body of work.